This is War
by Lady President Romana
Summary: It's all over. Loki is king. The human race has been subjegated; SHIELD is planning it's next move. But when one girl who's SHIELD agent parents were killed by the chituari says that enough is enough, she's determined to bring down the king. Could this girl and her group of [admittedly vaguely incompetent] vigilantes be the key to pushing Loki off the throne?


*** prologue ***

"Afternoon, Barton."

The sandy-haired man gave barely a nod of his head in the direction of his black-suited partner, who took a seat across from him, and gave him a weak smile. He didn't respond, nor make any sort of move that signalled his understanding.

"Barton?"

Nothing. After a moment, another phrase signalled his attention at last.

"...Clint?"

The man called Clint Barton actually cracked a smile at that one.

"Could've just started off with that one, Tash," he said, shifting his position a bit. "Y' don't always have t' be so formal. 'specially when we're the only ones here."

"Sorry... force of habit," Natasha Romanoff shook her head, a low chuckle escaping her lips. "Fury says that he got some more intel on those rebel kids."

"Really?" Clint quirked one brow up in surprise. "Huh. What, did they finally catch one of those little buggers?"

"No, not yet." Natasha set a manila envelope onto the table that separated her from her partner, sliding it over so that Clint could get a better look at the files inside. "But we do know who the leader is, which is a good step forward."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense," Clint said.

"It's in the file," Natasha said after a moment, motioning to the envelope between them.

"Right." Clint gave an awkward chuckle. "I knew that."

He reached one hand forward to lightly tough the envelope, sliding the information towards himself, and flipping it open. Inside, a picture of a young girl with a proudly defiant grin on her face smiled back at him, and the SHIELD agent gave it a once-over, trying to remember any defining traits that could come of use later.

She looked about fifteen or sixteen, if he was good at guessing ages. {Which he usually was.} Her wide, dark eyes were certainly her most defining feature, and would've marked her as an innocent if the picture hadn't been a mug shot. Her stringy dark brown hair, clearly having not been brushed in days, hung over her shoulder in a messy ponytail.

"Victoria Brady," Natasha said suddenly, snapping Clint's attention away from analysing her photograph. "She was arrested last week for spray painting 'Fuck the King' on the side of several buildings in the lower east side of the city. Her friends helped."

That actually made Clint laugh out loud, albeit slightly muted. "For all her complete idiocy, girl's got serious balls, I'll give her that."

After a few more moments of tense silence, Clint spoke up again. "Victoria Brady. Where've I heard that name? I know I've heard that name /somewhere/, before."

"She's Agent Sarah Hansen and Agent Will Brady's daughter," Natasha replied. "They used to work here. Killed by the chituari."

"Geez," Clint purses his lips. "No wonder this chick's so set against Loki."

"We don't know the names of the rest of this little team she's built up," Natasha continued. "But at least we know now who's leading them."

"Didn't you say she got arrested?" Clint frowned. "If Loki's guards already have her..."

"She got out," Natasha interrupted him. "We think it's because she had friends on the outside. Clearly they have some sort of predisposed method if any of them get caught."

"And what do we know about the other kids on her little team?" Clint pressed.

"Not much," Natasha admitted. "We know that they range in age from twelve to about nineteen, we know that most, if not all of then have been orphaned due to the chituari fiasco, though a few of them are just runaways, and we know that Brady is the leader. That's it."

"Not much to go on," Clint commented. "They got some sort'a hideout somewhere?"

Natasha nodded, "Yes, they do. But we still haven't figured out where it is."

Clint sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Great. Flippin' fantastic, in fact. Do we just stumble about the lower east side? Askin' everyone we see if they've seen a group of midgets spray painting anti-establishment cuss words on the walls?"

"By my estimation, Brady is actually rather tall."

Clint didn't laugh.

**{ Author's note: First Avengers fic, woo! Sorry this chapter was so short, by the way. I figured the best way to get into the story was to have Clint and Natasha introduce my OC, Victoria, and her group of vigilantes. Fair warning, after this, the Avengers won't be in the next chapter. I wanna get into Victoria, and her relationship with her 'charges', so to speak. Remember to leave lots of reviews! I live on 'em! }**


End file.
